§ Mr. Stonehouseasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Western European Union held in Paris.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerThis was the fourth quarterly meeting of the Ministerial Council of Western European Union since these meetings were resumed at The 9W Hague in October, 1963. As is customary, there was a political and an economic day. The subjects discussed on the political day included East-West Relations, Africa South of the Sahara and South East Asia. I gave my colleagues an account of developments concerning Cyprus. On the economic day, there was an exchange of views on The Kennedy Round and the outcome of the United Nations Trade and Development Conference. We discussed certain aspects of the relations between the United Kingdom and the European Economic Community, and I made a statement about the recent European Free Trade Association Ministerial Meeting. I also took the opportunity to tell my Western European Union colleagues that we intend to arrange for a United Kingdom contribution of £7.1 million to the Inter-American Development Bank.